Background check
by ITILY
Summary: A small history of Near's past in his own POV, and his first encounter with Mello...not exactly what you'd expect...Rated T for small fluff, yaoi, abuse and illegal gambling...intended MXN, oneshot, please R


Ok, here's a short something that someone had requested, based on one of my DA artwork, h t t p : / / i t i l y . d e v i a n t a r t . c o m / # / d 2 y k 5 l 3 , (take out the spaces), you guys can check it out if you like... Anyways, enjoy!

~MXN~

**Backgroun****d Check**

Near's POV

My father liked to gamble. He would have gambled anything, for anything, with anything. When my mother realized his love for gambling exceeded the love for her and perhaps also myself, she left. I remembered she gave me a cup of milk and I fell asleep after just a few sips, when I woke up she was gone, all her things removed. Dad threw a fit about it, bashing up things, then he started bashing me. I never known my father to be a violent man, and never once in my life had I ever been punished physically, if I did something wrong, mom would get angry and scolded me, so it really hurt when my father started abusing me. It was a daily routine, father would leave and came back late at night, some nights he never came home at all, food was running low and we had no money since he couldn't stop gambling. He was always losing too. He'd come back angry every time and started hitting me, sometimes it got really bad until I couldn't stand or walk for a few days, where I'd lie on the floor and slowly starved. After a while, I began to dealt with the pain and grew numb to it, as were to everything else.

He grew more violent with each lost and I silently started to hate losing, if only he could win, maybe he'd be happy and we'll be happy again. One day, he shook me up from my bed and held a fistful of my hair, yanking me up, I whimpered quietly and followed along wherever he wanted to take me. The drive was a long and silent one, I was scared but there wasn't much I could do. I held closer to the stuffed bear that I somehow managed to bring along, it wasn't really all that comforting.

Finally we stopped at the docks, I looked out the window and peered, wondering why we were doing there. My father cranked the door open, and started dragging me again into one of the warehouses. I stumbled along in the darkness, getting closer and closer to some sort of ruckus.

We entered one of the warehouses, it looked like a stadium, there were a lot of people, one screaming this, while another screaming something else. I was finally brought up to a bald man with a weird beard, "I want a bet on him," my father was yelling to the man, probably because of the noise as he placed a hand firmly on the back of my neck. The loud applause made it hard for me to understand what they were saying and I wasn't very tall, gazing up at them in confusion. I saw the man smile, it wasn't like a nice smile, it looked like the smile Captain Hook would have. Dad lowered himself and looked at me in the eyes the first time after what felt like months, "Listen carefully you, I want you to follow this man and no matter what happens, I want you to lose. Do you understand?" he held my arms and shook roughly, I quickly nodded and was soon dragged along by the bearded man.

I was taken to some sort of cell, where they stripped me, leaving me with only my pajama shirt. I blushed, not really understanding what was going on, I just knew I didn't want to get hurt so I did as told. They left me alone after that, and curiously I looked out through the bars.

It looked like an arena from the roman era. My dark eyes widened when I saw what was happening at the centre, there was a boy with a baseball mask and a bat in his hands, slamming over and over onto a bloody pulp on the ground, all I could make out of it was a shirt loosely clinging to the frame and it wasn't moving. The crowd that stood and looked down the pit were wild with roars of cheers and boos. I looked nervously to the tall man guarding the cell door, he didn't seemed to care about what was happening and looked straight ahead.

Suddenly, someone shoved me forward and the bars were open, I was kicked out and fell to my knees, this brought a wave of laughter over the crowd. I stood up, trembling and leaning as close to the shut bars as possible. The guard pulled me up by the collar, a few buttons plopped as he did so and more of my skin was exposed. I was brought to the centre of the arena, being the new attraction. The ground beneath me felt soggy and when I look down on my foot I realized they were stained red, the source being the pulp that laid dead next to me. Shaking badly, I glanced up in fright at the boy who had inflicted such damage, he had the bat on his shoulders, standing huffily with a crazy grin on his face. I mentally started telling myself to run as soon as the boy approached me, my feet already twitching anxiously.

Suddenly another cell was opened and a black figure walked out, he looked even more dangerous than the other boy. The crowd cheered louder. I balled my fists to my chest protectively as I noticed he was walking towards me. The tears fell as I felt his shadow over me, and his breath very close to my hot face. I peeked an eye open, and saw two sharp intelligent blue eyes looking back, a few blonde strands peeking out of his mask, which he had opened. He came closer to my face and I closed my eyes tightly, any chance of running now was gone. I felt something slick over my cheeks and I realized he was licking my face, the crowd kept cheering. His mouth came close to my ears and whispered so no one could hear, "Look afraid," my eyes snapped open, wide and glassy from the tears, "Good, keep it up," he continued, "When the announcer says 'fight', I want you to run as fast as possible towards the cell I came out of. I was going to nod when he stopped me, "Don't move, just keep looking afraid." He was face to face with me again and without warning, he pressed his lips on mine, the crowds went slightly quieter then it began again louder than ever, "Trust me," he mumbled onto my lips.

I watched in confusion yet still keeping the act of looking frightened as the black-clad boy who couldn't be any older than ten walk back towards the other boy and bumped their elbows, they look like they were partners. I wondered if it was all part of the act or was I being fooled, but I had no choice, no matter what happens though, I would be running, running for my life.

"READY!" someone said through a mike, "SET!" My heart thumped like it never had before, fear shaking every part of my body. "FIGHT!"

As quickly as it was said, the blonde swung his bat and hit it right on the other boy's chest, making him fall to the ground. The crowd cheered and I saw that no one was going to stop the battle, so it must've still been part of the act. My feet instantly registered and in a split second, I turned, running my lungs out towards where the blonde had directed me too and I saw him chasing after me. As I got closer and closer to the bars, I saw the guard suddenly stiffened and reached for his weapon, I closed my eyes and kept running straight ahead until I heard a cry of pain, blood splashed to my back and some on my shoulders. I flung and saw the blonde standing protectively over me, some blood trickled down his chin and his left arm was bleeding badly where a knife was poking through his shoulder blade, I gaped, but he only winced and with one quick swift motion, he bashed the guard with his bat unconscious.

"Open the gate," he hissed and I quickly went to untie the knot that kept the bars closed. The crowd was making all sorts of noise but we didn't care, just kept running as far and as fast as our little feet could take us.

The blonde was the first to collapse and I saw how pale he looked, the wound on his shoulder still fresh and bleeding. "We have to go to a hospital!" I cried frantically, my tears falling on his face. "Shh," he put a finger to his bleeding lips, groaning slightly in pain which he obviously was trying to hide, he was definitely the strongest kid I've ever met. "It's okay, I don't think I'll make it to a hospital," his voice was low and hoarse.

"I can carry you!" I tried, crying even more if possible, my nose wet and clogged, I must've looked like a mess. He smiled and asked suddenly, "What's your-r n-name?" "Nate River," I sniffled, wiping my eyes with the sleeves of my shirt. "I'm M-Mihael Keehl. M-make sure they p-put that on my grave. Keep…keep running," he finished weakly and slowly his bright blue eyes closed.

A strangled sobbed escape my lips and unsteadily I got to my feet and started running aimlessly, feeling afraid and alone, everything was gone now, my mom, my dad, my home, and my little hero. I didn't run very far, until I fell to the ground, puking all my stomach contents, I wiped my mouth, ready to cry again when I realized it was pointless.

"Are you alright?" I heard an elderly voice spoke, I looked up and saw an old man with a strange looking teenager standing next to him. I heard sirens and saw the blinking lights flashed pass and somehow I managed a weak smile. Maybe not everything is lost yet…

~MXN~

Ok, so yeah, that was it, I purposely used simple english to reflect Near's innocence at that time, he was only seven, yeah, surprise, he was only sent to Whammy's when he was seven and Mello nine, a lot older than what some people like to assume, but that's my thoughts on it. And before anybody asks, this is a oneshot, one, uno, yi, unna! So no continuations, I sincerely apologize, but I just can't finish them all, I'm not superman...Anyways, I still hope you guys enjoyed it, review please.


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